Montreal asks citizens to weigh in on asphalt contract

MONTREAL — Should Montrealers just “hold their noses” and have city potholes fixed, possibly letting tainted contractors again profit from a multi-million-dollar city contract?

That is a key question swirling around a dilemma that Mayor Michel Applebaum wants Montrealers to help settle by voting in an online survey.

“We believe that citizens will clearly state that they feel (road safety and) security is important and that they will support us in the awarding of the contract,” Applebaum told reporters Friday.

The city of Montreal risks running out of asphalt on April 15 unless it signs a $5.2-million contract with seven supply companies, including some tarred with corruption allegations at the Charbonneau Commission.

The city’s executive committee voted at a special meeting Monday to okay the contract, but city council said no. Applebaum wants to call a special council meeting next week to again vote on the asphalt contract. If council approves the contract, Montreal would ask the provincial government to send it to the provincial financial oversight body, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), to analyze the companies.

“If they are deemed illegal and not allowed to provide us with asphalt, then this contract will be cancelled,” Applebaum said Friday.

Opposition party Vision Montreal supports the pothole survey.

In a news release headlined “Should we hold our nose and fill the potholes?” party leader Louise Harel describes the survey as “a new tool for participatory democracy.”

But Projet Montréal considers the survey, with its simple yes or no question, misleading.

“If we were not to award this contract, every borough could still repair potholes,” Marc-André Gadoury, Projet Montréal’s legislative leader, told reporters.

Cold asphalt could be purchased from regional or out-of-province suppliers. Warm asphalt could be had by upgrading a city facility in Lachine that recycles asphalt. Or asphalt furnaces can be purchased, said Gadoury, whose district includes Rosemont. In short, he said, other options are available rather than risk awarding contracts to tainted companies.

“We are facing a cartel that we need to bring down. If we keep awarding contracts to the same players we keep hearing about at the Charbonneau Commission ... they will keep screwing us up.”

At least three of the seven companies have been named at the Charbonneau Commission into corruption in the construction industry. Allegations of wrongdoing have been raised in connection with Construction Louisbourg, Pavage Montréal Nord and DGL Construction. Construction Louisbourg and its owner Tony Accurso have been linked to Vito Rizzuto, reputed head of the Montreal Mafia. Accurso was arrested on charges of fraud and corruption by the provincial anti-corruption squad, UPAC, in June, and Louisbourg was found guilty of tax evasion by Revenue Canada in 2010.

Applebaum said the seven companies were chosen because of their bid price, expertise in making asphalt and their proximity to neighbourhoods requiring pothole repairs. Warm asphalt has a limited lifespan.

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